1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to carbon nanomaterials. More particularly, the present invention relates to carbon nanostructures that are manufactured using a carbon precursor and a catalytic templating particle.
2. The Related Technology
Carbon materials have been used in a variety of fields as high-performance and functional materials. Pyrolysis of organic compounds is well-known to be one of the most useful methods to prepare carbon materials. For example, carbon materials can be produced by pyrolyzing resorcinol-formaldehyde gel at temperatures above 600° C.
Most carbon materials obtained by pyrolysis of organic compounds at temperatures between 600-1400° C. tend to be amorphous or have a disordered structure. Obtaining highly crystalline or graphitic carbon materials can be very advantageous because of the unique properties exhibited by graphite. For example, graphitic materials can be conductive and form unique nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes. However, using existing methods it is difficult to make these well-crystallized graphite structures using pyrolysis, especially at temperatures less than 2000° C.
To acquire the graphite structure at lower temperature many studies have been carried out on carbonization in the presence of a metal catalyst. The catalyst is typically a salt of iron, nickel, or cobalt that is mixed with carbon precursor. Using catalytic graphitization, graphitic materials can be manufactured at temperatures between 600° C. and 1400° C. Most catalytic graphitization methods have focused on making graphite nanotubes. However, the yield of crystalline materials is still very low (e.g., for carbon nanotubes the yield is less than 2%). These low yields make it difficult to use the nanomaterials in making useful articles.